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With the decade of the 00s concluding it’s time to look back at what happened in the world of automotive. In general, the 00s is considered a decade that most would rather forget, but nevertheless there were some interesting happenings in the automotive industry. As a connoisseur of European cars, with a heavy emphasis on German, my focus was on European cars.

The last decade made it clear that it is not easy to make a classic car: It must be advanced, look nice in addition, surely also successful, but at least controversial – later generations have to be able to recall the cars. Just as the ones below.

MINIIt is too expensive and too small, but that’s intentional: The new edition of the Mini from 2001, was intended as a lifestyle racer, and suddenly driving a small car was chic. Many other manufacturers adopted the idea of offering small-car buyers good design – the first serious attack on the Mini, will follow in 2010 when the Audi A1 comes to the market in Germany.

PORSCHE CAYENNEUp until 2002 Porsche was a pure sports car manufacturer, but then the big boss Wendelin Wiedeking wanted more. He saw that he could exploit the boom for SUVs in the USA for Porsche, so he brought the new Cayenne to the market. The monstrous car brought in so much money for Porsche that they wanted to swallow the much larger VW group. In the climate change / global warming debate, Porsche didn’t look so well with the Cayenne – so a small cylinder and a diesel engine was offered.

BMW 7 SERIESIn 2001 BMW had to endure scorn and ridicule during the presentation of its new flagship car. Reason was the plump design of the 7 Series with a trunk lid that looked like it was put on after the design was finished. Chief designer Chris Bangle, however, described his work as visionary. In fact, there are some ideas by Bangles used on the 7 Series that can now be found on vehicles of the competition. The same applies to the then criticized “iDrive” knob operation. The newly released 2009 7 Series is again more conservative, but many experts say the Bangle designed 7 Series revived BMW. Toward the end of the 20th Century, car design seemed “perfect”, but also exhausted.

MERCEDES CLSFord had just taken over Jaguar when Mercedes said: The English competition is coming with a renewed vigor, we need to put up something against it. Out of this basic idea in 2004 the CLS was created – a car that has already secured its place in the history of design. The CLS is a four-door coupe, which is a oxymoron and contradiction for sure. Meanwhile, Audi, BMW, VW, Porsche and Aston Martin also use the sloping roof design in some models. Jaguar as well, naturally.

TATA NANOIt costs approx. $2,160 and is intended to be for the Indian market, what was the VW Beetle was in Germany: the start of mobility for all. In Europe, the announcement in 2008 already produced unrest among the established vehicle manufacturers. But before Tata comes to Europe or the United States it will take years. Until then the Dacia Logan at $10,000 will remain the cheapest car in Europe and the Chevy Aveo at $10,895 in the United States.

BUGATTI VEYRONIt would take a downpayment of almost 1,000 Tata Nano, if you want to buy a Bugatti Veyron. According to the will of the former VW chief Ferdinand Piëch in 2005, the 1001-horsepower supercar should be the tip of what is technically possible to achieve: 253 mph top speed, 16 cylinder, 2.5 seconds for zero to 60 mph, $1.55 million. Meanwhile, there is also a roadster for $2.40 million. However, the sales of the car are so low that it will never contribute to the profit of the VW Group.

AUDI A2 Being a car with a full Aluminum body made it very difficult for the Audi A2 from the beginning in 2000. Thus, the small car was only given a very short life span. Although in its most frugal version it got a whopping 78.4 MPG, it was so expensive that it was discontinued in 2005. Three years later, with the climate change debate in full swing, those responsible must have been upset about this decision.

TOYOTA PRIUSIt’s true that it’s career began in 1997 – but at that time, the first large-scale hybrid car in the world was still an ugly duckling and was widely ridiculed. It’s breakthrough came in the second generation of the Prius from 2003, when Hollywood celebrities began to appear with the now trendy Prius. Meanwhile, more than one million Prius have been sold worldwide, and now the German manufacturers are following with hybrid models – however, only in the upper class.

HONDA FCXDue to the withdrawal of BMW in the development of hydrogen cars, cars with fuel cells could suffer a setback: This power plant that generates electricity for the on-board electric motor, needs to refuel with hydrogen. Whether the fuel cell will ever be mass produced is open. If this happens, the Honda FCX will be a very special classic car – one for which there is no fuel.

TESLA ROADSTERWith the end of the decade, the end of the era of the combustion engine could be upon us. If the transition looks like a ride in the Tesla Roadster, no car fan could have anything against it. Since 2008, the sports car with its nearly 7,000 laptop batteries has moved the image of electric vehicles away from that of golf-carts and limitation-mobiles because it is not only clean but also chic and fast. A top speed of 125 mph, zero to 60 mph in 3.7The extremely high price (just under $110,000) is the only real downer. But an up and coming classic does not necessarily have to be perfect. It is sufficient if it points the way to the future.